Christina Ricci

A child star who managed that rare successful transition to onscreen adulthood, actress Christina Ricci's early career was aided in no small part by the fact that her roles did not depend on dimpled c...
Read More...

The former child star was due to appear at Manhattan's Regal Union Square theatre to promote the romantic comedy, but she had to withdraw from the event at late notice, leaving director Scott Marshall to walk the red carpet alone.
Event representatives blamed Ricci's absence on her "rigorous shooting schedule" for Pan Am, in which she stars as a 1960s flight attendant for the famous and now defunct airline.

S1E4: My prayers have been answered. After last week's time-jumping, history-dependent episode, I feared that my desire to see Pan Am change up the prep/flight/location formula was a mistake. However, this week "Eastern Exposure" proved that they can shake things up a little without driving viewers crazy. This week, things got a little deeper without losing the allure of international travel and cute blue uniforms, which is exactly what you want from a show like this.
"Maggie said Jakarta is wildly unrefined." -Laura
While the crew was supposed to be heading for Iceland, Kate's CIA contact, Richard, insists that she get her flight changed to Rangoon, Burma. She's being sent to do some recon after her stunt in Germany went too far off book. Somehow, she gets the entire crew rerouted to Burma -- which isn't an unwelcome change. The ladies leave their fleece and opt for bikinis while they lay poolside. (Remind me to search for those fantastic 60s bathing suits later.) While the girls giggle and sip cocktails, Kate steals away to speak to a man in the bushes. He hands her a camera and tells her to go to Jarkarta. In an instant, the entire crew is rerouted to Indonesia. I'm not sure how airlines work or used to work, but can someone tell me if rerouting your whole crew at the drop of a hat is really that simple? Or perhaps the CIA is consistently pulling strings. I'm still not quite sure how Kate always ends up flying to the exact place they need her to be.
When they get to Jakarta, Laura is still acting like a wide-eyed little girl which needs to change soon before she permantly becomes a walking cliche. The "I've never been anywhere" routine is starting to become pretty obnoxious, but her latest friendship within the crew is one that promises a certain level of change. When Kate goes to send a telegram to Richard asking what to do with the camera, she's gone all day so Laura ends up buddying up with Maggie. They'd bonded at the pool in Burma when Maggie encouraged her to race one of the Naval officers and when they find critters in Laura's room, Maggie insists they go out on the town and explore. The duo play black dominos, eat street curry, watch a cock fight, and dance on tables until the wee hours. There's one little snag: Laura borrowed the camera thinking it was Kate's personal one which earns her a tongue-lashing when she gets home. Kate tells her to grow up and stop trying to be her; her argument is a little off, but pretty characteristic of most sibling squabbles. And it makes sense since she's more upset that she may in trouble than she is that Laura is a Pan Am stewardess, though the conversation eventually wanders there.
By the end of the episode, Kate meets with Richard who found the photos Laura took with the CIA camera. He's going to pull Laura off of Kate's crew, and while she's been annoyed with her sister, she knows how much the job means to her and refuses to let him take Laura off. Instead, she buys her sister a new camera and goes back to their apartment to give it to her -- only she's moved out. We see her moving into Maggie's Village apartment, filled with smoke, beat poets and musical instruments. It seems that Kate really screwed up this time, and Laura's so fragile I doubt this issue will be resolved soon.
"No really, how did you jump the line?" -Ted
"Why didn't you?" -Dean
I really enjoy that the series is attempting to keep some cards close to its chest throughout the episode instead of laying everything out right away. We see Ted and Dean slowly building into a conflict, but it starts as a simple question. When an older pilot teases Dean about being the youngest pilot at Pan Am, Ted starts wondering just how he managed to surpass the unspoken rule that you have to be older to be a pilot. Dean refuses to speak about it, but the question is already festering in Ted's head. We start witnessing flashbacks to when he was in the Navy as a test pilot. The first happens when the Naval officers flirting with the stewardesses in Burma tease Ted for being a commercial pilot. While Laura swims with one of them, it seems he's jealous, but we see his memory: a firey ocean crash. Later, when Ted presses Dean for information about how he got his job when Ted has more experience, he asks if Bridgette got him the job. The pushes Dean further away and send Ted into another memory: the hearing in which he was told he'd be suspended from the Navy for crashing the plane we saw earlier. It turns out since he was a test pilot, the plane was faulty, but when it crashed all evidence was lost. The only thing they have to go on is the fact that he was at a bar the night before (his dependence on alcohol is slowly creeping into focus) and even though it was 12 hours prior to flight, it's enough to ruin him.
When Kate rushes to make her camera drop -- six hours late -- Laura is left still stinging from their fight and joins Ted in the bar. He's there trying desperately to watch the space shuttle launch, which luckily isn't shoved down our throats as "this week's history lesson because it's the '60s, guys!" They bond over her fight with Kate and his despair over his ruined past without actually explaining anything -- and like the moment when JFK's speech moved him to try and kiss her, the historical significance of the space shuttle launch sends them into a bout of meaningful glances. Of course, for Ted, his expression is also full of pain. Through another flashback we learn that his father built the plane that crashed and his company found out what went wrong, but they wouldn't clear Ted's name with the Navy because it could mean losing their government contract. The reason the shuttle launch means so much to Ted is that when his father's selfishness killed his Naval career, it also killed his shot at the space program, which is the only dream he's ever had.
Later, on the next leg of the trip, Dean takes a risky route landing the plane in dangerous crosswinds, which causes Ted to argue with him the whole way down. They land safely, but it's a close call and when everyone's off the plane the pilots have it out. Finally, Dean tells Ted that if he's jealous he should just have his dad pull strings to get him promoted -- the same strings his father pulled to get him hired in the first place. This strikes Ted's final chord and he punches Dean. When they finally make up at the end of the episode, Dean confesses that he got the job because he ended up with the head of the company in an elevator and gave him a speech about the youthful image of the Jet Age.
While Dean's lovesick routine made sense, it was nice to see a little depth added to our pilots. Besides, the stewardesses are beautiful and fun, but you can't run the show with the men stuck in the background. They started giving Ted a bit more of a character when he had the conflict with Maggie, but I'm really enjoying the fact that he's got such a turbulent backstory. It will lend more depth to his eventual relationship with Laura, because we all know that's going to happen.

S1E3: In our third journey with the Pan Am stewardesses, we find ourselves travelling to Berlin, where Kate has a new assignment. Of course, Laura is still wide-eyed and excited about seeing yet another place she's never been. While all the girls are a-twitter, Collette is distracted, but she's determined to prove that the distraction has nothing to do with her romantic Parisian dance with Dean.
It seems the prep/flight/new country formula is going to stick with us, but this time the timeline gets to shift around a bit. While this ups the intrigue a bit, it only seems to be as a result of the confusion the back and forth creates. Kate’s new CIA job finally reaches the level of danger you’d expect from the super-spy side story, and Maggie’s political dreams, while relevant to the time period, are about as entertaining as nails on a chalkboard. I miss the dark Christina Ricci, this bubbly version is just a little outside my comfort zone.
“What if I bring a few girls with me, like getting into a nightclub in the city?” –Maggie
As we try to forget the idiocy of Maggie’s narrow-minded request to get into JFK’s party in Berlin, let’s move on to the action at hand: we encounter a variety of journalists packing the Pan Am jet to Berlin on their way to cover President Kennedy's speech in the German city. While the stewardesses scramble to keep the pesky writers happy, Maggie's trying to angle her way to a press badge so she can meet JFK after missing the opportunity when she worked on his campaign -- of course the free-spirited girl who lives in the village wants to get a front row seat to see JFK speak. And of course her best shot is an attractive young reporter from -- of course -- The Village Voice.
“What did he say?” –German Girl
“He’s working on it.” –Kate Kate is more worried about picking up a Nietzsche book as part of her mission, but when she's picked up by a young German girl, she gets roped into another intrigue. The young girl is spotted and marked – and Kate tries to help her even though her CIA commander tells her to leave it alone. She has to go to see the president speak in order to avoid suspicion. An older German man grabs them and says he loves Americans so they go up to his apartment to watch the speech – it’s a little strange but it allows them to play promising music until Collette begins acting strangely. Running up the stairs with the crowds brings back memories of the German invasion which Collette endured when she was just three years old. While the others are moved to tears by Kennedy’s words, Collette is in tears for a very different reason.
“We’re Pan Am, and who can turn down Pan Am?” –Kate
Maggie still hasn't met the president, but she continues to try at his party later that night. Kate, as a ploy to continue her mission, suggests they all go in uniform and try to get in that way. It's here that Kate tries to help her blonde German counterpart by dressing her up as a Pan Am stewardess. The Pan Am uniform doesn’t serve as as much of a ticket in as they thought. As they stand outside waiting awkwardly, Collette brazenly asks Kate’s German friend if she delivered bread to the Nazis when the poor girl tries to talk about her past life. Luckily, Dean vouches for them and they get in. Kate tries to connect the German girl with someone who can help, but hears from her boss that she's made a grave mistake. Is she already making the same mistakes as the woman she's replaced?
"It was a terrible mistake." -Collette
"The party or the singing?" -Dean
"Coming to Berlin…at all." –Collette Collette is still plagued by her past, but she finds an outlet: she gets drunk and sings the German national anthem. The grand finale is an emotional drunken display. She can't manage to shake the past, and regrets even coming to Berlin. Even sharing her tale with Kate at the end of their return flight after everyone else disembarks – she still hates the Germans and she doesn’t know how to stop.
Finally, Maggie completely misses the president at the party but finds out where Air Force One is and takes Ted's Cuban cigars to give to the president. She makes it in time (but misses her flight) and her reward is a grateful wave, which seems to be more than enough for her.
Ted doesn’t seem to miss them much because he’s more interested in asking Laura out for breakfast. “She’s different from other girls” – oh, likely story.
I enjoyed that the series attempted to bring up a few bigger questions, like the fact that some informants or spies are considered to be expendable or the idea that Collette still experiences flashbacks to her traumatic childhood, but the overly enthusiastic tones from the Maggie portion of the story were just a little too campy to be genuine. Then again, all we’re expecting from this series is a bit of Sunday night fun. Not ever series can play with history as successfully as Mad Men.

S1E2: Pan Am may be one this season’s biggest surprises for me. I expected to hate every second of the ‘60s themed romp in the sky, but it’s managed to weasel its way into my heart with just two episodes. Call it false nostalgia (seeing as the oldest decade I stepped foot in was the ‘80s) or a knack for quoting Doris Day movies alongside James Bond ones, but the new ABC series has me hooked. It’s aesthetically refreshing; the crisp blue uniforms and sterile, yet inviting aircraft interiors contrasted with the lavish digs our Pan Am ladies end up in on the ground pop on the television screen. Plus, the drama ranges from typical ‘60s times-they-are-a-changin’ family problems to international espionage and missing persons. It’s all the fun and intrigue you hope for on a Sunday night – especially when the folks over at Desperate Housewives have clearly lost their touch.
“She should have saved the fare and flown on her broomstick.” –Kate
Let’s start with our main characters – who despite what you’d assume are not played by Christina Ricci. Laura and Kate prepare to leave for Paris together, a trip which is one of Laura’s lifelong dreams, just as Kate is regaling Laura on how she got Laura’s things back from their mother. If we believed her description, we’d be forced to remember their mother as Malificent in dragon form, breathing fire on tiny townspeople.
In reality, she’s just a well-dressed woman who shows up at the airport just as Kate receives instructions from her CIA contact, who’s annoyed that she’s distracted. When she gets on the plane, she confirms it: the woman she was staring at is in fact her mother, and she’s on the plane. Laura and Kate fight over who will serve their mother, with Kate as the unhappy victor after we see a flashback of Kate sticking up for Laura when they mother follwoed them to a diner in attempt to force the fleeing bride to come back home. There’s just one big problem: their mother isn’t there to see Kate. She’s waving around the month-old Life Magazine with Laura’s face on it. Offended, Kate insists Laura take care of her. In the air, her mother sweetens Laura up, tells her how much she misses her, and when they’re on the ground in Paris, they make plans to travel together. Everything’s dandy until she sees why her mother really came: she brought Greg (Laura’s jilted ex-fiancé) to win her back.
When Laura bolts, she runs into Kate who immediately confronts their mother about ruining her only chance to get her daughter back while making sure to guilt her mother for not caring enough about her. Later, her mother comes to her room to show her that her unused passport was issued the summer Kate got her stewardess job, which is great because no one’s mother is as heartless as Kate thought she was. However, before this happy realization, Kate is approached by her contact in mid-conversation with her mother. Her contact is none other than the missing Pan Am stewardess: Bridgette.
Laura meets briefly with Greg, who is apparently the biggest sweetheart in the entire world. Even though she ditched him on their wedding day and bolted after he flew all the way to Paris, he tells her that he once had a dream to go to Mount Kilimanjaro and that if this is her Kilimanjaro, he’s happy for her. Only in the ‘60s were people that insanely sweet.
“I am not included with the price of your ticket.” -Maggie
At inspection, Maggie gets feisty – and we had to know this was coming, she lives in the Village after all. When Mrs. Havemeyer says Laura’s a pound too heavy, Maggie retorts that they ought to way Mrs. Havemeyer to be fair. Just as she’s about to get in a heap of trouble, Ted comes in as works his pilot-rank magic to get them out of inspection and onto the plane.
On the plane, Maggie is getting attention from a leering businessman – something that every stewardess has to learn to deal with – but at some point during the flight Mr. Elkins decides leering just isn’t enough. He seems to think she’s there for his every need. He corners Maggie in the galley and tries to force himself on her until she stabs him with a fork.
This leads to the man complaining – remember, this is the ’60s and things are still in the process of a-changin’ – to Ted, the co-pilot, about “the help.” And here’s where this show earns its worth: being a pretty ‘60s stewardess isn’t all flight bags and fancy hotels. Ted smooths it over and offers the man another drink, but Maggie isn’t satisfied. She makes that known, but all Ted does is say that he likes having her around but that if she doesn’t reel it in, she could get fired.
In Paris at their hotel, Ted sends Maggie a pastry with a fork stuck in it as a joke. He seems honestly ignorant that his actions were wrong, but she finally lets him have it: his actions made it okay for men like Mr. Elkins to try that with other girls. It’s something that at the time wouldn’t seem as urgent to a pilot, but things had to change at some point and I’m glad Pan Am is dealing with it. Of course, it seems that it may also come with a side of will-they-won’t-they romantic undertones.
“She may like her boyfriends, but she loves her husband.” –Collette’s translation
Collette gets a ride to the airport from Dean when her car breaks down, and the spillover of inside jokes and little interactions gets the pilots talking. Is Dean already over Bridgette? It would seem not, but that doesn’t keep him from flirting his blues away with Collette.
On the plane, he mentions a Parisian night club he once went to (with Bridgette, where he witnessed her getting into a tussle with an unidentified man) but he implies he’ll take Collette there. When they get to Paris, he comes to her door and asks her to help him find this club. At the club, he admits that he asked her to come so that she could help him talk to the maître d’ about Bridgette’s whereabouts. The man tries to pretend he doesn’t remember Dean, but ends up saying that Bridgette is actually married.
When Kate meets with Bridgette after their rendezvous, we find that she’s not so much married as she is in big trouble. That night at the club was the beginning of the end. She’d screwed up her orders and the man grabbing her was an MI-6 agent telling her she’d really stepped in it. The box Kate is delivering are her new orders: hiding out in middle America for the rest of her days because her identity was compromised. She warns Kate that this life could mean losing everything, but Kate still wants it and Bridgette says that’s why she recommended her.
Just as this new life is starting, it seems that drunken Dean is moving on as well. He flirts more with Collette and then they dance in the streets of Paris as nuzzles her neck. Man, that was quick.
Pan Am is really taking off, but I just hope that the pre-flight/in-flight/new city formula will get shaken up a bit or it could start to feel a bit stale.

New York 1963 – flying is still considered a luxury and pilots seem like superstars and stewardesses (they're not called flight attendants yet) are luxurious, goo-looking models. One of them, a girl named Laura, even graced the cover of a Life Magazine featuring an article entitled, “The Jet Age.” Six months earlier, Laura was a runaway bride, ditching her haughty–taughty Connecticut lifestyle to join her sister, Kate, and see the world as a Pan Am stewardess. Come fly on the “World’s most experienced airline.”
Kate is a part of the maiden voyage of the Clipper Majestic from New York to London. Joining her is Dean, who was recently promoted to pilot and one of the first of a new breed of pilots not trained in war. Maggie (Christina Ricci) is also along for the ride and she was grounded (airline-speak for suspended) prior to the flight. She ends up replacing Bridget, who did not report for duty. Before the flight, the girls are weighed and checked to make sure they look absolutely perfect according to Pan Am’s standards.
Considering this series takes place during the Cold War, it makes sense that it features some cloak and dagger secret agent action. Because of their profession, which enables stewardesses to fly back and forth undetected, they are the perfect informants. In fact, aboard the Majestic, Kate is the informant for an MI–6 agent.
While the pilot episode gives the flashback treatment to each of its characters, noticeably absent from the back–story treatment is Christina Ricci’s Maggie, although we do learn she is dating a free-spirited bohemian. I might be reading too much into this, but I feel they’re waiting on Maggie, because Ricci is, oddly enough, the biggest name on the series, and viewers might want to tune in again to learn more about her character.
Even without Ricci, there’s already plenty of intrigue surrounding the series and its characters, who thanks to all of the flashbacks, we all know have a ton of baggage (no pun intended). Each of them is, as one character put it, the new woman for the Jet Age.
Created by Jack Orman (ER) and Thomas Schlamme (The West Wing), Pan Am focuses on the pilots and flight attendants who work for the company in 1963 and just like NBC’s The Playboy Club, is trying to hone in on the success of AMC’s period piece drama, Mad Men. Unlike The Playboy Club, Pan Am is actually good and worth a look. One thing that will set it apart from its other 60’s era set counterparts is that Pan Am showcases a different side of the decade. While Mad Men and The Playboy Club get down and dirty, Pan Am revels in pomp, circumstance, glitz, and glamor of globe–trotting. The optimism of this show is infectious and worth taking a ride.

Ricci's much-anticipated new U.S. period piece, about the iconic Pan American World Airways stewardesses, debuts on Sunday (25Sep11), and she admits her poor language skills almost cost her the part.
She explains, "I was supposed to speak Spanish in the pilot (episode) and when it came to shooting my Spanish part, I spoke French for so long my whole life, (I couldn't do it).
"(So) they recorded someone speaking the Spanish part. They had somebody do it so that I could hear it and imitate it, and memorise it that way. But they did it with somebody with a true, from Madrid, Spanish accent...
"So the gist of it is, I got so confused and so scared, and it was the first time in my entire life in my acting career, that I completely froze - could not get through a single line of my dialogue. (I) was such a flop, that they cut out my scene. And they rewrote my character, so that I don't speak any languages."

The former child star, who has battled eating disorders in the past, wasn't about to let TV viewers see her with her clothes off if she didn't look toned.
She tells Nylon magazine, "We all have to be in bikinis in the second episode (and) some of the girls are like, 'I'm not dieting, screw it!' And I'm, like, totally dieting; I'm eating protein and vegetables and I'm doing my Pilates exercises at night, when I'm watching television.
"My Pilates instructor wrote out three different routines for me. I've worked out, 'OK, this one I can do in my dressing room, and this one in the studio at lunch...'"
But she insists her latest weightloss battle is in no way related to her well-publicised anorexia struggles when she was a teen.
The 31 year old adds, "I'm not going to punish myself because I don't look like the average person in a bikini... I would actually live on pasta if I could."
Ricci had another problem with the bikini scenes - back acne.
She tells the magazine, "I use (acne cream) Proactiv because the lovely thing about my face now that I'm in my early 30s, I'm ageing, but I'm also dealing with acne, and now - this is disgusting - but I get it on my back. I'm like, 'What am I? A pubescent boy?'"

"I'm the oldest member of the cast and we shoot in HD (high-definition), so I'm like, 'Dude, I don't wanna be, like, scary old-face.'" Christina Ricci insists on getting 10 hours of sleep as she prepares for new U.S. TV drama Pan Am.

Last night Jimmy Fallon welcomed Christina Ricci to Late Night to talk about her braving Hurricane Irene despite her building's evacuation.
Also on Late Night, comedian Jim Gaffigan appeared to joke about his new baby, parenthood, Sara McLaughlin commericals, and The Jersey Shore.
On The Late Show, David Arquette appeared to discuss his decision to appear on Dancing With the Stars.
Finally, Letterman also welcomed Parks and Recreation's Aubrey Plaza to the show to reminisce about her costumed meeting with Donald Trump.

Once upon a time, TV (aka the small screen) came with a stigma, a negative connotation for actors: If movie stars took a job on a series, it was a step down, a demotion. Things have gradually changed, and although there’s no way to locate the precise turning point, movie actors and actresses are now gladly taking what was once seen as the plunge – and perhaps never more so than this season. Here is a list of actors we’ll be seeing a lot of on fall TV but who you probably know better from their movie work.
Maria Bello
Series: Prime Suspect (Sept. 22 at 10/9c on NBC)
Notable TV Past: Guest roles on ER and Law and Order: SVU
Movie Highlight(s): The Cooler; A History of Violence
Our take: Bello is stepping into a role made famous by Helen Mirren on a British show more revered than the original Office. It might work out, it might not – but if Prime Suspect fails, it won’t be because of Bello.
Ashton Kutcher
Series: Two and a Half Men (Sept. 19 at 9/8c on CBS)
Notable TV Past: Michael Kelso on That ‘70s Show; Punk’d
Movie Highlight(s): Just Married; What Happens in Vegas; No Strings Attached
Our take: Only those under the proverbial rock over the past several months haven’t heard of the Two and a Half Men saga, a very abridged summary of which goes like this: Sheen out, Kutcher in. Well, the time has come for all to see whether Kutcher, who, of course, rose to stardom on the hit Fox series That ‘70s Show, can simply tap in the broad zingers set up by co-star Jon Cryer. Likely answer: yes, and with ease.
Zooey Deschanel
Series: New Girl (Sept. 20 at 9/8c on Fox)
Notable TV Past: Guest role on Weeds
Movie Highlight(s): (500) Days of Summer; Yes Man; The Happening
Our take: Deschanel, known on the big screen for her overall offbeat nature, was one of the last actresses anyone would’ve ever picked to headline a stereotypical sitcom on national TV. But wouldn’t you know it, New Girl is one of the buzziest fall shows – and Zooey looks poised to become the second Deschanel with a hit Fox show (her sister Emily stars on Bones).
Christina Ricci
Series: Pan Am (Sept. 25 at 10/9c on ABC)
Notable TV Past: Guest roles on Ally McBeal and Saving Grace
Movie Highlight(s): Sleepy Hollow; Monster; Black Snake Moan
Our take: Ricci’s movie career has been stalling a bit of late, and TV could provide just the boost it needs; she wouldn’t be the first example of such a TV-aided resurgence. But ABC, looking to capitalize on the recent spate of successful retro-style series, needs a hit even more.
Kat Dennings
Series: 2 Broke Girls (Sept. 19 at 9:30/8:30c on CBS)
Notable TV Past: Raising Dad; guest role on ER
Movie Highlight(s): Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist; 40-Year-Old Virgin; Thor
Our take: Dennings’ new show has a TON going for it: Michael Patrick King (key behind-the-scenes player on Sex and the City and its two movies) and Whitney Cummings (who has her own eponymous sitcom debuting on NBC) co-created the series, and, more importantly, it’ll wind up sandwiched between How I Met Your Mother and Two and a Half Men – probably TV’s most coveted timeslot. Oh, and it’s got Kat Dennings, too!
Patrick Wilson
Series: A Gifted Man (Sept. 23 at 8/7c on CBS)
Notable TV Past: Prominent role in TV miniseries Angels in America
Movie Highlight(s): Hard Candy; Watchmen; Little Children
Our take: The very gifted Wilson seems a great fit for A Gifted Man – which was created by th screenwriter of Erin Brokovich – and with a House-gone-supernatural vibe, the show could very well turn him into the next movie actor-turned-TV star.
Claire Danes
Series: Homeland (Oct. 2 at 10/9c on Showtime)
Notable TV Past: Angela Chase on My So-Called Life; HBO movie Temple Grandin
Movie Highlight(s): Romeo + Juliet; Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines; Stardust
Our take: It’s taken Danes over a decade and a half to return to the medium that made her famous; it’s only fitting that Homeland couldn’t be more different than My So-Called Life: The former is on Showtime (bad words!) while the latter was on ABC; the former is a suspenseful drama while the latter was a teenage melodrama; the former sounds decent on paper while the latter already cemented itself as one of the best-ever series of its kind.
Jim Caviezel
Series: Person of Interest
Notable TV Past: AMC miniseries The Prisoner
Movie Highlight(s): The Passion of the Christ (Jesus!)
Our take: Caviezel has an extensive history as a character actor on the big screen, but he showed in last year’s mind-boggling AMC miniseries The Prisoner that he could do TV just as well. Person of Interest will kick things up higher on the confusing-premise scale with its twistier-than-Minority Report plot from two of the best in the biz: J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan.
Laura Dern
Series: Enlightened (Oct. 10 at 9:30/8:30c on HBO)
Notable TV Past: HBO movie Recount
Movie Highlight(s): Jurassic Park movies; David Lynch movies
Our take: When someone has such a long and storied movie career, it makes sense that her first show seems, in typical HBO fashion, akin to a movie split into several episodes. Such is the case with Dern and Enlightened, about a self-destructive woman who goes to rehab and comes out a new person, spiritually, much to the annoyance of those close to her (including fellow movie vet Luke Wilson).

Cast in breakthrough screen role as Wednesday Addams in "The Addams Family"

Co-starred with Nick Swardson in the comedy feature "Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star"

Earned an Emmy nomination for Best Guest Actress in a Drama Series for "Grey's Anatomy"

Landed a supporting role as the laundry-obsessed girlfriend of a photographer in John Waters' "Pecker"

Played the lesbian lover of Charlize Theron's character in "Monster"

Had pivotal role in the thriller "Bless the Child"

Made cameo appearance in Anjelica Huston's "Bastard Out of Carolina" (aired on Showtime)

Did voice-overs and appeared in TV commercials

Raised in Montclair, NJ

Voiced the character of Lilly in the animated feature "Alpha and Omega"

Cast in the HBO feature ensemble "The Laramie Project," adapted from Moises Kaufman's stage drama about the aftermath of the murder of Matthew Shepard

Earned rave reviews as a pregnant teenager who wreaks havoc in the comedy-drama "The Opposite of Sex"

Summary

A child star who managed that rare successful transition to onscreen adulthood, actress Christina Ricci's early career was aided in no small part by the fact that her roles did not depend on dimpled cuteness, but on an unnerving maturity that suggested a keen intelligence beyond that of her adult co-stars. Ricci spent her teens as a gloomy, precocious lead in several successful comedies and melodramas such as "Mermaids" (1990), "The Addams Family" (1991) and "Now and Then" (1995). Still in her teens, she exploited both her maturity and burgeoning sexuality in more artful projects that included "The Ice Storm" (1997), "The Opposite of Sex" (1998) and "Buffalo '66" (1998). Despite the growing respect she received from her peers, the narrow confines of Hollywood proved problematic for Ricci, whose later projects varied from little seen indie films like "Prozac Nation" (2001), to well-acted visceral dramas like "Monster" (2003), to such commercial pabulum as "Cursed" (2005). Later decade work included the sexually-charged potboiler "Black Snake Moan" (2006), opposite Samuel L. Jackson, and "Speed Racer" (2008), a visual spectacular directed by the Wachowski Brothers. Eventually settling into a comfortable mix of small personal projects, big budget fare and more frequent television work, Ricci maintained a consistent presence as one of film's more interesting and accomplished young actresses.

Met on set of ABC's "Pan Am"; Reportedly engaged October 2012; Ricci confirmed engagement Feb. 1, 2013; Married in New York City on October 26, 2013.

James Oliver

Companion

Dated 2001; No longer together

Ralph Ricci

Father

Divorced Ricci's mother 1995

Sarah Ricci

Mother

Divorced Ricci's father 1995

Dante Ricci

Brother

Born c. 1974

Rafael Ricci

Brother

Born c. 1971

Pia Ricci

Sister

Born c. 1976

Education

Name

Edgemont Elementary School

Professional Children's School

Montclair High School

Glenfield Middle School

Notes

Ricci was discovered at age eight in school play, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" by the drama critic for the Bergen Record who gave the family the telephone number of an agent; the critic's son had originally been cast in the role but Ricci got the boy to hit her and tattled on him, receiving the part as part of his punishment.

"We're kind of kindred spirits. She's me in a very small body." – Cher on Ricci, quoted in People, Nov. 6, 1995

"I've been very guarded since I was little. I think that's whay I'm an actor, because I can hide any emotion I have at any time and I can put on another one whenever I need to." – Ricci to Graham Fuller in Interview magazine, Oct. 1997

"I think the main reason a lot of people don't make it is that it's hard to see someone as cute as then to all of a sudden see them as having more depth. I guess I was just lucky that when I was little, nobody thought I was that cute." – Ricci on the transition from child to adult actor, quoted in Rolling Stone magazine, Aug. 20, 1998

"Christina is a great combination of little-girl vulnerability and tough-talking gun moll. She does not tolerate phonies." – director Don Roos ("The Opposite of Sex") to The New York Times, May 17, 1998

"Christina has the most remarkable face on-camera. It's a combination of angelic and sensual, really peaceful and troubled. There's this whole complex of energies going on, which is really fascinating." – director Risa Bramon Garcia ("200 Cigarettes") to Time Out New York, May 14-21, 1998

"I was an evil child – well, misguided. I just felt school was never going to end, that there was a weird smell in the classroom I was going to have to smell for the rest of my life. If a little kid could be depressed, I guess I was depressed." – Ricci quoted in Time magazine, June 15, 1998

"After I got out of high school, I was like, this [acting] is my job. Before, I was doing it because it was fun. Now, I'm like, this is how I pay my rent. Now I have to keep working, because I'm afraid if I stop, I won't have any money." – Ricci to Us magazine, June 1998

"I never lose touch with my anger. I have no idea what the real source is, but I'm always mad about something. It gets ridiculous at times. I have life rage. What am I going to with it? I can't kick the sh*t out of someone. I can't yell or constantly be rude to people, because that's unacceptable. I have a therapist on each coast. I've had a problem with that, too, because I've had a different personality when I go to different ones. I've overcome that, though, because I really don't think that helps my therapy at all. [Laughing] I'd say that, deep down, I'm very disillusioned. I've been that way for a very long time. As much as I'm cynical, though, there's a lot of optimism in me, which pretty much assures that, over and over, I'm going to be disillusioned [Laughing]. But I have the ability to laugh at all this stuff." – Ricci quoted in Movieline, April 1998

"I like the way my own feet smell. I love to smell my sneakers when I take them off." – Ricci to Movieline November 2002

"I'm sort of the last person another actress needs to be competitive with, because all I want is steady pay" – Ricci quoted in Interview magazine, Feb. 2004

"This is a girl who spent most of her childhood on a set. She loves the action, the activity, the focus and the attention. She likes to be around the camera – in front of it, behind it or beside it." – director Don Roos, on Ricci, to W magazine, Sept. 2006

"I let people do what they need to do to me image-wise and visually while I'm at work, because I know the difference between being at work and what I do at home. That just comes from growing up on sets, whereas if you come in as an adult, you're a little bit more guarded about who you are." – Ricci to Premiere magazine, Sept. 2006

The world is just a really scary place. People scare the sh*t out of me." – Ricci to Esquire magazine, March 2007

According to Emmy magazine (Issue No. 7, 2011), Ricci was the only lead actress on ABC's "Pan Am" cast on an offer-only basis (i.e, sans audition).